Shook selector for box-making machines



Jan. 24, 1939. H. E. TWOMLEY SHOOK SELECTOR FOR BOX-MAKING MACHINESFiled Nov. 9, 1936 13 Sheets-Sheet 1 /z5 m2, /2/ /z0 INVENTOR.

ATTORN EYS Jan. 24, 1939; H. E. TWOMLEY SHOCK SELECTOR FOR BOXMAKINGMACHINES Filed Nov. 9, 1956 13 Sheets-Sheet 2 ATTO R N EYS Jan. 24,1939. H E TWOMLEY 2,144,821

SHOOK SELECTOR FOR BOX-MAKING MACHINES Filed Nov. 9, 1956 13Sheets-Sheet 4 m Q A N L Q l5 I 1 m ,f R a I R 1 L w l 3 3 L\ INVENTOR.

ATTORNEYS Jan. 24, 1939.

E. TWOMLEY SHOOK SELECTOR FOR BOX-MAKING MACHINES Filed Nov. 9, 1936 13Sheets-Sheet 5 INVENTOR.

ATTORNEYS Jan. 24], 1939. H E TWOMLEY SHOOK SELECTOR FOR BOX-MAKINGMACHINES Filed Nov. 9, '1956 13 Sheets-Sheet 6 INVENTOR.

ATTORNEY$ Jan. 24, 1939 H. E. TWOMLEY SHOOK SELECTOR FOR BOX-MAKINGMACHINES Filed Nov. 9, 1936 13 Sheets-Sheet '7 ATTORNEYS Jan. 24, 1939.H TWQMLEY 2,144,821

SHOOK SELECTOR FOR BOX-MAKING MACHINES Filed Nov. 9, 1936 13Sheets-Sheet 8 i o A9 0 ATTORNEYS l5 Sheets-Sheet 9 INVENTOR.

ATTORNEYS H. E. TWOMLEY Filed Nov. 9, 1956 SHOOK SELECTOR FOR BOX-MAKINGMACHINES v 7 Ti Jan. 24, 1939.

Jan. 24, 1939. H. E. TwoMLEY SHOOK SELECTOR FOR BOX-MAKING MACHINESFiled Nov. 9, 1936 15 Sheets-Sheet 10 I I I l INVENTOR.

ATTORNEYS Jan. 24, 1939.

H. E. TWOMLEY SHOOK SELECTOR FOR BOX-MAKING MACHINES Filed Nov. 9, 193613 SheetsSheet 11 INVENTOR.

s Y E N R O T T A Jan. 24,- 1939. H. E. TWOMLEY SHOCK SELECTOR FORBOX-MAKING MACHINES Filed Nov. 9, 1936 12 Sheets-Sheet 12 Valli/[I114CZLyZZ.

I M" H V INVENTOR.

- ATTORNEYS Jan. 24, 1939. H. E. TWOMLEY SHOCK SELECTOR FOR BOX-MAKINGMACHINES 13 Sheets-Sheet 13 Filed NOV. 9, 1936 INVENTOR.

Patented Jan. 24, 1939 PATENT OFFICE S HOOK SELECTOR FOR BOX-MAKINGMACHINES Herbert E. Twomley, Riverside, Calif., assignor to FoodMachinery Corporation, San Jose, Oalii'., a corporation of DelawareApplication November 9, 1936, Serial No. 109,920

26 Claims.

My invention relates to a shook selector for box-making machines, andrelates particularly to a machine which may be associated with orconstitute an attachment for a box-making or box lidding machine for thepurpose of properly feeding the box or lidding parts to the machine asthe machine performs the nailing functions necessary to make or lid thebox or crate.

In the packing industry, particularly in the packing of fruits,vegetables and similar commodities, it is the common practice to employwooden boxes which are constructed ordinarily from "heads or relativelyheavy end boards constituting the ends or partitions of the box, towhich are secured relatively thin strips of wood constituting the sides,bottom and top of the box. In instances where the dimensions of the boxare such that the width of the bottom of the box differs from the widthof the sides of the box, it is necessary to employ bottom boards whichdiffer from the boards which are used upon the side of the box and incertain instances it may be desired to employ side boards which arepreviously stamped or branded with certain trade names, tradeinformation, or other, printed matter so that in feeding the box partsinto the machine the boards must be fed in a predetermined sequence; forexample, in the manufacture of boxes or crates for the packing andshipping of oranges 30 it is the common practice to construct the box ofthree heads, one at each end of the box, and one in the center of thebox constituting a central partition dividing the box into two sectionsor compartments. The bottoms of such boxes or 5 crates are formed of tworelatively thin and relatively narrow boards or shook, and the sides ofthe box are also formed of two relatively thin and relatively narrowshook, the uppermost of which on each side carries branded thereon the40 trade name, trade mark or brand name of the company or associationpacking the fruit. The actual manufacture of these boxes is usuallyperformed by a box-making machine in which the box parts areautomatically fed into the machine 45 and nailed together to make acomplete box during a cycle of operations of the machine, the variousbox parts being fed into the operating portion of the machine fromsuitable hoppers wherein the box parts are stacked. Heretofore it has 50been the common practice to arrange the shook in every hopper in groupsof six, including two side boards for one side of the box, two boardsfor the bottom of the box, and two side boards for the other side of thebox, the lowermost board 56 of the group having the brand name printedor branded thereon and the uppermost board also having the brand nameimprinted thereon but arranged in the group with the printed matterupside down with respect to the printed matter on the first board of thegroup. It was necessary, 5 therefore, for a man to specifically arrangethe boards before they were put into the copper of the machine whichrequired the consumption of a relatively great amount of time, and sincethe avialable space on the machine for the reception of such groupedboards was limited, it was either necessary to provide a man for thebox-making operation, and another man for the arranging of the boardsand the placing of the boards into the hopper as they were withdrawntherefrom, or 5 the operator of the machine had to stop the machine andarrange the boards and fill up the hoppers after each few operations ofthe machine.

It has heretofore been suggested that the shock or boards employed asthe side boards of boxes of so this character could be drawn from thestacks, placed upon a conveyer belt in predetermined sequence, and fedtoward the box-making machine, such devices however requiring arelatively great length of travel and consuming a relatively large areain the factory in which the boxes are manufactured.

It is an object of my invention to provide a shock selecting mechanismwhich will automatically draw boards from a series of stacks in apredetermined sequence, arranging these boards one upon the other andfeeding the same toward the box-making machine ready to be used therein.

Another object of the invention is to provide a shock selecting deviceof the character set forth in the preceding paragraph, which isrelatively compact and occupies a relatively small space at the rear ofthe box-making machine.

Another object of the invention is to provide a shook selecting devicewhich may be formed as an attachment for a box-making machine and whichis adapted to feed both the box heads and the side and bottom boards forthe box into said machine.

Another object of the invention is to provide a. shock selecting deviceof the character set forth wherein heads are drawn from the stack andare fed directly into the box-making machine in timed relation with theoperation of the boxmaking machine, and wherein the driving mechanismfor the shook selectoris actuated by the driving mechanism of thebox-making machine.

Another object of the invention is to provide a shook selectingmechanism of the character set forth in the preceding paragraph whereinfailure of the shook selecting mechanism to properly select the shook orto feed them into desired relation with the box-making machine willresult in the stopping of the box-making machine until appropriateadjustment is made.

Another object of the invention is to provide a selecting mechanism forselecting and feeding a plurality of heads into a box-making machine,wherein a plurality of stacks of heads are arranged to be drawn from insequence and the plurality of heads then passed into the boxmakingmachine simultaneously.

Another object of the invention is to provide a shook selectingmechanism for selecting a plurality of shooks from a series of stacks ina predetermined order wherein a carriage is moved beneath the stacks ina rectangular path of travel to simultaneously draw one shook from eachof the stacks and to move each of the shook drawn to a position belowthe next adjacent stack.

Other objects and advantages will be apparent from a study of thefollowing specifications, read in connection with the accompanyingdrawings, wherein- Fig. 1 is a side elevational view of a box-makingmachine with my shook selector attached thereto;

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of an orange box representing a typical boxwhich may be made by the box-making machine shown in Fig. 1, and forwhich the shook and heads are selected by my shock selector;

Fig. 3 is a diagrammatic view of the side and bottom shook ,employed inthe construction of the box shown in Fig. 2, and illustrating the orderin which said shook must be selected by the shook selector in order toproperly arrange them for the manufacture of the box shown in Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a diagrammatic view illustrating the manner in which power istransmitted from the driving motor of the box-making machine to theshook and head selecting mechanisms of my shook selector andillustrating the manner in which my shock selector is coordinated withthe operation of the box-making machine;

Fig. 5 is a diagrammatic plan view of the power apparatus for operatingthe box-making machine and illustrating the manner in which said poweris supplied from the box-making machine to my shook selector;

Fig. 6 is a diagrammatic view of a safety circuit which may be employedfor the control of the motor for the box-making machine to stop thebox-making machine whenever the shook selector fails to properly selectthe shook;

Fig. '7 is a sectional view through my shock selector, taken along lineVII-VII of Fig. 1, and illustrating the hoppers in which the heads maybe stacked and the mechanism by which the heads are drawn from thestacks and fed into the box-making machine;

Fig. 8 is a vertical sectional view, taken along line VIlI-VIII of Fig.7;

Fig. 9 is an end view, partly in section, taken along line IXIX of Fig.'7;

Fig. 10 is a sectional view through the head feeding mechanism, takenalong line X--X of Fig. 7;

Fig. 11 is an enlarged side elevational view of that portion of my shookselector which selects, arranges and groups the side and bottom shook,and illustrating the position of the operating parts at the beginning ofthe shock selecting cycle of operations;

Fig. 12 is a view similar to Fig. 11, and illustrating the position ofthe shook selecting operating parts at the next step in the cycle ofselection of the shock, wherein the selecting fingers are disposedbehind the lowermost shook in each of the stacks ready to remove theseshock from the stacks;

Fig. 13 is a view similar to Fig. 11- and illustrating the operatingmechanism at the next position in its cycle of operations after thelowermost shook in each stack has been removed therefrom and disposedimmediately below the next adjacent stack;

Fig. 14 is a view similar to Fig. 11 illustrating the position of theshook selecting operating parts at the next, or final, step in thecycle, wherein the shock selecting fingers have been retracted orlowered ready for their return to the position shown in Fig. 11;

Fig. 15 is a vertical sectional view through the side and bottom shookselecting mechanisms, taken along line XV-XV of Fig. 1;

Fig. 16 is a detail horizontal sectional view taken along line XVIXVI ofFig. 15;

Fig. 17 is a horizontal sectional view taken along line XVIIXVII of Fig.15.

Fig. 18 is an enlarged vertical section of a pair of shook selectingfingers, illustrating the manner in which these fingers select thelowermost shock from each of their associated stacks and alsoillustrating the control mechanism by which the machine is stopped inthe event of failure of the machine to properly select the shook;

Fig. 19 is a view similar to Fig. 18, illustrating the manner in whichthe control switch or mechanism is operating upon the failure of themachine to properly select the shock;

Fig. 20 is an enlarged vertical detail sectional view taken along lineXX-XX of Fig. 18;

Fig. 21 is a detail vertical sectional view taken along line XXI-XXI ofFig. 20;

Fig. 22 is a detail vertical sectional view of a shook holding fingertaken along line XXII-XXII of Fig. 20;

Fig. 23 is a vertical sectional view taken along the line XXIII-XXIII ofFig. 1, and illustrates in detail a safety clutch mechanism which may beinterposed in the power transmission system between the box-makingmachine and my shook selector and illustrating the manner in which theshook-selecting mechanism is disconnected from the box-making machineupon any jamming of the shook-selecting machine to prevent crushing ofthe shook or heads therein; and

Fig. 24 is a vertical sectional view of the clutch mechanism illustratedin Fig. 23, taken along line XXIVXX[V of Fig. 23.

Referring to the drawings, I have illustrated my shook selectingmechanism as being attached to and associated with a box-making machineparticularly adapted for the manufacture of orange boxes or crates, suchas are commonly employed in the citrus industry for the packing oforanges. The box-making machine is designated generally by the referencecharacter A and the particular type of box-making machine selected forillustration herein is of the type shown in the George D. Parker PatentNo. 982,439, granted January 24, 1911, and which is fully illustratedand described therein. The box- I making machine A is adapted to receivecertain for the construction of an orange box or crate. My shookselecting mechanism is illustrated as including a selecting and feedingmechanism B for selecting and feeding the heads for the boxes to thebox-making machine A, and also mechanism C for selecting, grouping andarranging the shock for the sides and bottom of the box and deliveringthese to the box-making machine A in proper relation for the machine Ato use the same in the manufacture of boxes.

Box-making machine Box-making machines of the type illustrated hereinhave become well known in the art and complete illustration anddescription thereof is contained in the Parker patent hereinbeforereferred to. However, for the more ready understanding of the operationof and advantages of my shock selecting mechanism, a brief descriptionof the box-making machine A is included herein.

The box-making machine A consists essentially of a base or bed-plate Ifrom which rises a pair of spaced upright frames 2 and 3. Between theuprights 2 and 3 are three'groups of disc clamps 4, each of which isadapted to receive and hold one of the box heads fromwhich the box is tobe made, these disc clamps 4 being arranged to rotate the heads throughan angle of 90 upon each operation of the nailing mechanism 5 to nailthe side and bottom boards upon the heads. Arranged immediately beloweach of the disc clamps 4 is an anvil 6 upon which the lower edges ofthe heads may rest to resist the force of the nail driving mechanism 5during the nailing oper ations. Arranged immediately below the anvils 6is an elevator 1 adapted to receive the heads and arranged to be liftedto elevate the heads into their positions between the disc clamps 4.Thus the heads being fed into the machine from the rear thereof (theright-hand side of the machine as viewed in Fig. 1) will pass onto theelevator I and when the elevator rises will enter between the discclamps 4 where they will be gripped and held by the disc clamp duringthe further operation of the box-making machine until the box iscompleted.

The nailing mechanism 5 is coupled through connecting rods 8 to cranks 8on gears l (one at each end of the machine), which gears are in turnmeshed with pinions H on a drive shaft l2 driven by an electric motor.Dwhich constitutes the source of operating power for the box-makingmachine A.

In the manufacture of a box it is necessary to nail the boardsconstituting one side. then nail the boards constituting the bottom ofthe box, and then nail the boards constituting the opposite side of thebox so that for the manufacturev of each box the nailing mechanism mustbe drawn downwardly and returned to its upper position a total of threetimes, while at the end of the third nailing operation the box must beremoved from the machine and new heads must be inserted in the discclamps 4 ready for the manufacture of the next box.

The elevator 1 is therefore arranged to be operated only at every thirdoperation of the nailing mechanism 5 by connecting the same (as is fullydescribed and illustrated in the above mentioned Parker patent) to acrank l3 freely rotatable upon the shaft l4 which supports the gears i0but connectible through a clutch, not shown herein, to the shaft i4 uponeach third revolution of the shaft i4.

The boards or shooks to form the sides and bottom of the box arearranged in a hopper I! at the rear of the machine, this hopperconstituting a rack in which a. plurality of boards or shocks may bestacked and from which the boards are drawn as they are needed by a pairof shook feeding bars I. arranged to be reciprocated by means of a pairof levers II gears or coupled to the gears it so as to reciprocaterearwardly and forwardly upon each operation of the nail drivingmechanism I. The bars II are provided with a pair of space fingers I8and I 8 so that upon each forward movement of the feeding bars I thelowermost shook in the hopper I! will be engaged by the fingers i8 anddrawn from the hopper, following which, as the fingers l9 are drawnbelow the hopper It, the next lowermost shook is drawn therefrom, thetwo shook so drawn being moved forwardly in the machine until they arepositioned directly above the heads (held in the disc clamps 4) inproper spaced relation to be nailed to the heads as the nailingmechanism 8 descends in its next operation.

After one set of shook has been nailed to the heads the mechanism of thebox-making machine will cause the disc clamps 4 to rotate through an arcof 90 presenting the next adjacent edge of the heads uppermost, the feedbars It will retract, again moving forward and drawing the next twoshook from the hopper l5, placing them in position to be nailed to theheads to form the bottom of the box. This. operation is repeated a thirdtime, drawing the next two shook from the hopper to form the last sideof the box.

By referring particularly to Fig. 2, it will be noted that the orangebox includes two end heads a and b constituting the end boards of thebox, while a central partition or head 0 is located at the center of thebox to divide the finished box into two separate compartments. The headsa, b and c are fed into the disc clamps 4 to pre sent the edgesuppermost ready to receive the two boards constituting the first side ofthe box, which boards are designated d and e. As will be understood bythose skilled in this art, it is the common practice to print, brand, orotherwise form upon one of the side boards of the box the brand name orother printed matter designating the source from which the productscome, or instructions, or other printed matter necessary for the properidentification of, or use of, the package. Ordinarily this printedmatter is contained upon the uppermost board or shook constituting theside of the box; that is, upon the shock d. The shook are usuallybranded or imprinted prior to the time they are secured to the heads toform the box, and for this reason it is necessary that the first boarddrawn from the hopper l5 at the start of the manufacture of a box mustbe the shook d, while the shook e, constituting the next board to bedrawn from the hopper l5, may be a blank shook e. After the boards orshook d and e are secured to the heads a, b and c the disc clamps 4rotate to present the edges 2| of the heads uppermost ready to receivethe shook constituting the bottom of the box. Again the dimensions ofthe box may be such that the boards constituting the bottom of the box,namely 1 and g, may be of the same size or width as the shock at or ifthe width or depth differ from each other it may be desired to employboards of differing width for the bottom of the box. In any event thenext two boards in the hopper l5 must be the bottom shock I and Afterthe boards and g are secured to the heads,

the heads areagain rotated through 90 to present the edges 22 uppermostready to receive the two shook constituting the last side of the box.Again it is ordinarily desired to have the uppermost board on this sideof the box also bear indicia or other printed matter, so the next shookto be drawn from the hopper I5 should be a blank", said shook h, and thelast shook to be drawn from the hopper should be a printed shook k. Theshook k should be arranged in the hopper in such manner that the indiciathereon is upside down with respect to the printed matter on the shook dso that the indicia will read properly when the shook k is secured tothe box.

It follows, therefore, that the shook arranged in the hopper I5 must begrouped in groups of six shook for each box, the lowermost shook beingthe printed or branded shook d, the next above should be the blank shooke, the next should be one of the bottom boards 1, the next should beanother of the bottom boards g, the next should be the blank side shookh, and the last should be the branded shook k.

Heretofore these shook were arranged in groups of six and placed in thehopper by hand and since six of these must be used for each of the boxesthe hopper I5 could contain only a sufiicient supply of shook for arelatively small number of boxes without making the hopper I5 so largeas to be entirely disproportionate to the machine and to the spacerequired for the location of the machine in the factory. For this reasonit was usually necessary either to have a man assigned to the machine inaddition to the operator thereof, who would arrange and place the shookin the hopper I5, or it was necessary that the operator of the machinestop the manufacture of boxes therein while he refilled the hopper withproperly arranged shocks.

In box-making machines of the character hereinbefore described, threehoppers were arranged at the rear of the machine, each to contain asmall supply of heads for the boxes from which three heads were drawn ata time and fed into the machine over the elevator I. The heads, however,are relatively thick and hence only a small number of these heads couldbe arranged in the hoppers at one time, again making it necessary thatthe operator of the machine must either stop the machine to refill thehead hoppers, or a man was required in addition to the operator for thepurpose of keeping these hoppers full.

As hereinbefore described, my shook selecting mechanism may be employedas an attachment for the box-making machine A and includes a headselecting mechanism B and a side board or shook selecting mechanism C.Both of these mechanisms are mounted upon a suitable stand or tablewhich consists essentially of a pair of side frames each of which isformed of a bottom rail 23, a back leg 24 and a front leg 25interconnected at their upper ends by means of a longitudinal rail 26.The frames on opposite sides of the machine are interconnected togetherby means of cross braces 21 and 28 near their lower ends and by means ofcross braces 29 interconnecting the front legs 25 about midway of theheight of these legs and by a cross brace 30 interconnecting thelongitudinal rails 26; If desired, a secondary longitudinal rail 3| mayextend between the legs 24 and 25.

Head selecting and feeding mechanism By referring particularly to Figs.1 and '7 through 10, it will be observed that I have illustrated my headselecting and feeding mechanism which is preferably substituted for thehoppers to the head feeding mechanism previously employed in thesebox-making machines, though it will be understood by those skilled inthis art that my head feeding mechanism may be attached to or associatedwith the hoppers of the box-making machines to feed heads into thehoppers from which the ordinary head feeding mechanism of box-makingmachines may select the heads and pass them into the machine as needed.

The head selecting and feeding mechanism of my invention consistsessentially in a plurality of hoppers 32, 33 and 34, each arranged toreceive a relatively tall stack of heads laid horizontally one upon theother. The hopper 32 is formed preferably of four upstanding corner ironmembers 35, 36, 31 and 38 arranged at the corners of a rectangledescribed by the area of one of the heads a, b or c to constitute guidesfor holding a stack of the heads a, b or c one upon the other. As willbe observed from an inspection of Fig. 1 the hopper 32 extends at aconsiderable angle to the vertical to adapt it to my head selectingmechanism, though it will be understood by those skilled in this artthat the hoppers may be arranged to extend verticaly, if desired. A pairof bottom rails 39 and 40 are disposed immediately below the cornerangles 3533 and 3I 38, respectively, to constitute rails upon which thelowermost head will rest and along which this head may be drawn from thestack and passed toward the box-making machine A. The hoppers 32, 33 and34 are all secured together at their rear ends by means of a pluralityof cross straps 5| and at their front ends by a plurality of crossstraps 62, the entire assembly being supported upon the frame-work ofthe machine as by securing the same to the rear legs 23 and I25 and thehorizontal bars 26 and 3I. The rail 45. on one side of the machine, isconnected to a fish plate 66 secured in turn to the bottom rail 23 ofthat side of the frame of the machine, while the opposite end of theangular rail is secured toa bracket 41 which is in turn secured to thefront leg 25 at that side of the machine.

By referring particularly to Fig. 8 it will be observed that the frontflanges 48 of the corner angles 36 and 31 are cut away near their lowerends as indicated at 49 to form a space above the rails 39 and 46 just alittle in excess of the thickness of one of the headscontained withinthe hoppers so that when a stack of heads is supported by the hopper thelowermost head of the stack may be slid outwardly therefrom through thespace or passage formed by the cutaway portion of the corner angles 36and 31, while the head immediately above the lowermost head will engagethe front web of the corner angle and be held thereby until thelowermost head is passed completely out of the stack and the stack isallowed to descend.

By arranging three stacks or hoppers 32, 33 and 34, I provide a separatestack for each of the three heads which are to be employed in themanufacture of an orange box; for example, the hopper 32 may contain allof the heads a, another hopper may contain all of the heads b, and thehopper 33 may contain all of the center partition heads 0. I amtherefore enabled to draw three heads from the hoppers and feed themtoward the box-making machine A by a simple chain conveyer mechanismwhich will deliver the three of the hopper 33.

heads in proper lateral spaced relation ready to be received by the discclamps 4 of the boxmaking machine A.

The head feeding mechanism-consists essentially of a head selectingmechanism and a head feeding mechanism. The head selecting mechanismcomprises a plurality of endless chains 50, II and 52, each disposedimmediately below the vertical center of the respective hoppers 32, 33and 34. The chain 5|! extends over a pair of sprockets 53 and 54, thesprocket. 53 being rigidly secured to a shaft 55 which extends laterallyacross the machine between the two side frames thereof, being journaledat its opposite ends in a pair of bearings 56 and 51 secured to theangular rails 45 on opposite sides of the machine. The sprocket 54 isfree to turn on a shaft 58 which is rigidly secured by means of bearings59 and 68 upon the angular rails 45.

By referring particularly to Fig. 8 it will be seen that the upperportion of the path of travel of the chain 56 is disposed immediatelybelow the plane of the rails 39 and 48 and that the chain 50 is providedwith a lug 6| which extends upwardly above the chain 50 to engage thelowermost head a in the hopper 32 so that as the sprocket 53 is drivenin a counterclockwise direction the lug 6| will be brought intoengagement with the rear edge of the head a and will move the same outof the hopper 32.

Referring to Fig. 7, it will be noted that the chain 5| extends over apair of sprockets 62 and 63 which, like the sprockets 53 and 54, aresecured respectively to the shaft 55 and free to turn on shaft 58 andthat the chain 5| is provided with a lug 64 (see Fig. 7) which isadapted to engage the lowermost board or head in the stack 33 and tomovethis board out It will also be noted that the chain 52 extends over apair of sprockets 65 and 66 which are likewise secured respectively tothe shaft 55 and free to turn on shaft 58 and the chain 52 is providedwith a iug'6'l adapted to engage the lowermost head 22 in the hopper 34to move this head out of the hopper. While the lugs 6|, 64 and 6| forthe chains 56, and 52 may all be disposed to engage the boards in theirrespective hoppers at the same time, I prefer to stagger the position ofthe lugs upon their respective chains in such manner that during onecomplete travel of the chains 50, 5| and 52 through their paths the lugon chain 5| will engage the head of its hopper 32 and draw this headcompletely out of the hopper before the lug 64 on the chain 5| engagesits head, and similarly that the head should be withdrawn completelyfrom the hopper 33 before the lug on the chain 52 engages the head inhopper 34, thereby requiring that the total amount of power furnished tothe shaft 55 need be only such power as is required to draw one headfrom beneath its stack of heads. This will be appreciated by thoseskilled in this art when it is noted that a stack of heads for boxes ofthis character weighs a considerable amount and that when these headsare arranged in a relatively tall stack a considerable force isrequiredflto re move the lowermost head from the stack. By staggeringthe relation of the lugs on the chains 59, 5| and 52 the motive power ofthe machine is never subjected to a load of more than one stack of headsat a time.

Immediately in front of each of the chains 56, 5| and 52 I provide asemicylindrically shaped track 82 followed by a channel shaped trackalong which the heads may be drawn as they are fed toward the box-makingmachine A, the channel shaped track associated with the chain 56 beingdesignated as 68, the channel shaped track for the center partition headbeing designated as 69 and the channel shaped track for the opposite endhead being designated 10. It will be observed that the heads as they arearranged in the hoppers are substantially horizontal, while, when theyare fed into the boxmaking machine A they must stand on edge; that is,they must stand in a vertical plane and for this purpose I providemechanism for turning the heads after they have been drawn from thestacks. This mechanism includes an endless chain feeding mechanism foreach of the sets of heads which will engage the heads and move themtoward the box-making machine A, and guide mechanism which will engagethe heads as they are moved by rollers on the chains, and turn themuntil they rest upon one of their edges in the tracks 68, 69 and 10.

The feeding and turning mechanism associated with the heads drawn fromthe stack 32 includes 'an endless chain 1| trained over a pair ofsprockets l2 and I3, the sprocket 12 being rigidly secured upon the sameshaft 55 which supports the sprockets 53, 62 and 65 so that powerapplied to the shaft 55 is transmitted to the chain H. The chain II isdisposed in a position slightly offset from the track 68 so that one ormore rollers 14, secured to the chain as by means of bearing members 15,project into the space immediately above the semicylindrical track 82and track 68 to engage boards standing in a leaning position as shown inFig. in the semicylindrical track 82 and to move them forwardly alongthe track as the chain moves through its path of travel. I prefer toprovide a guide channel 16 (Fig. 10) disposed immediately below thechain 1| to guide this chain during its longitudinal travel along themachine, the guide channel preferably being disposed in a slightlyoffset relation at one side of the track 68 along which the heads move.

The guide mechanism includes a guide rod 11 which extends longitudinallyof the machine in a slightly offset relation to the track 68 but on theopposite side of the track 68 from the chain Hv and its guide channel 16to provide between the chain channel 16 and the guide 11 a relativelynarrow passage through which the boards may be drawn while they arestanding on edge. It will be observed that the chain channel 16 and theguide bar I! are disposed a considerable distance above the level ofthe'track 68 (see Figs. 1 and 8) to engage and support the heads at aconsiderable distance above their bottom edge.

In order to assist in the turning of the boards from their horizontalposition to their vertical position, I provide a pair of turning bars 18and I9 extending longitudinally of the machine, the turning bar 18 beingpreferably bent as indicated particularly in Figs. '7 and 8 so that oneof its ends 8|! is disposed in alignment with one side of the hopper 32from which point the rod extends forwardly for a short distance and thenturns inwardly toward the track 68 and downwardly toward the track 68.In like manner the turning rod 19 has one of its ends 8| disposed inalignment with the opposite side of the hopper 32 and extends forwardlyof the machine and inwardly toward the track 68 and upwardly relative tothe track 68. The forward ends of the guide rod 11 and the turning rod18 may be suspended from the cross bar 38 of the frame of the machine,as indicated particularly in Fig. 9, 'as by securing the same tosuitable bolts 11a and 18a respectively secured to the cross bar 30.Extending between the turning rod 18 and the track 68 I provide a curvedsheet of material, preferably sheet metal, 82 so that as the heads aredrawn from the hopper 32 by the chain 58 the chain 50 will deliver thehead to the position indicated at 83 in Fig. 7. At this time the head isdisposed immediately above the chain II which by reason of the fact thatthe chain II is offset from the center of the heads will allow one sideof the head, indicated at 84, (see Fig. to fall downwardly until itengages the curved sheet 82. If desired, this initial turning ortwisting of the head may be assisted by providing a spring member 85attached to a cross rail 86 extending along and engaging all of theforward corner posts of the hoppers, the spring 85 extending forwardlyand downwardly so that its outer end will engage the head at aconsiderable distance away from its point of support upon the channel 16(Fig. 10).

It will be apparent that when the head is in the position shown at 83 inFig. 7 the head has been moved forwardly a sufilcient distance and alsotilted to permit the roller 14 on the chain II to engage the rear edgeof the head and move it forwardly in the machine. As the head is movedforwardly, the head having been tipped downwardly at one of its sides,will cause that side to engage below the turning rod 18 while theopposite side of the board, having been tipped upwardly, will engage theturning rod I8. Now, as the head board is moved forwardly, the turningrods 18 and 18 will complete the turning opera tion to place the head ina vertical position in the track 88, and as the chain H continues itsforward movement of the board it will deliver this board along the track68 in a vertical position by being shoved along by roller I4 attached tothe chain.

By referring to Figs. 1 and 8, it will be observed that the extremeforward end of the track 68 is turned downwardly to form a substantiallyhorizontal section of this track aligned with the upper edge of theelevator 1 of the box-making machine, so that as the head is moved alongthe track 88 it will be delivered directly above the elevator I.

It will also be noted that the bearing member for the roller 14positions the roller 14 a slight distance above the level of the chain Hso that by positioning the sprocket 13 for the chain ll immediately atthe rear of the elevator 1 the roller 14 as it passes over the sprocket13 will advance the board into the box-making machine until the frontedge of the board abuts the front plate 81 of the box-making machine,which determines the accurate positioning of the head in the box-makingmachine ready for its eleva tion to the disc clamps 4.

It will also be seen from Figs. 1 and 8 that the sprocket I3 isrotatably mounted upon one end of a bearing lever 88 which is pivotallymounted upon a shaft 88 supported in bearing brackets 80 secured to thelongitudinal rails 3| of the frame of the machine. The chain H, inaddition to passing over the sprockets l2 and 13 also passes over a pairof idler sprockets 8i and 82. The sprocket 8| is rotatably secured, asindicated at 83, upon the bearing lever 88 on the side of the shaft 88opposite to that upon which the sprocket I3 is mounted so that shouldthere be any variation in the dimensions of the head, or"

for any reason encounter considerable resistance to its being placedagainst the front plate 81 of the box-making machine A the bearing lever88 will rotate about its shaft 88, thereby moving the sprocket 18 aslight distance rearwardly and preventing injury to the machine andpreventing crushing of the board. Moreover, in order to insure that thehead is delivered to its full forward position in the machine, I preferto so mount the sprocket 13 that it must yield every time a board ispressed into the box-making machine against the front plate 81. Thebearing lever 88 is normally urged in a counter-clockwise direction todispose the sprocket 13 in its extreme forward position by means of aspring 84, one end of which is secured to the lower end of the bearinglever 88, as indicated at 85, while the opposite end of the spring issecured to some stationary part of the machine, such as a bracket 86which extends below the track 68 to support the pan sheet 82. Ifdesired, the idler sprocket 8| may be mounted upon the lever 88 by meansof a slot 91 in the lever 88 thus permitting the sprocket 8| to beadjustably secured at varying distances from the sprocket '13 tomaintain the chain II in a desired tensioned relation.

The idler sprocket 82 may be mounted at any suitable point upon themachine and is indicated in Fig. 8 as being secured upon a shaft 88which is in turn supported by brackets 88 secured to the tracks 68, 68and 10.

By properly selecting the diameters of the sprockets 12 relative to thesprockets 53 the relative speeds of movement of the chains II and 53 maybe selected, though I prefer that the speed of the chain H shall be suchthat the roller 14 will make one complete travel through the endlesspath defined by the chain during two travels of the lug 6| of the chain58. In this manner a second roller Ha may be provided upon the chain 'IIin a position diametrically opposite to the position of the roller 14 sothat one complete movement of the chain II will serve to feed two headsinto the box-making machine A while the shorter chain 58 will make twocomplete revolutions through its path of travel to draw two boards fromthe stack 32.

The track 68 for the heads drawn from the stack 33 and its associatedhead-guiding and turning apparatus is identical with that hereinbeforedescribed with reference to the track 88 for the heads drawn from thehopper 32 with the exception that the chain I08, which constitutes themeans for moving the heads from the hopper 33 along the track 68 isdisposed upon the opposite side of the track from that on which thechain H is disposed with reference to its track so that the heads drawnfrom the hopper 33 are turned in the reverse direction from those drawnfrom the hopper 32. Likewise the heads drawn from the hopper 34 willpass along the track 10, being moved therealong by means of a chain it",again'the chain IOI being disposed on the side of its track 18 oppositeto the arrangement of the chain ll and its track 68.

As hereinbefore described, the staggering of the lugs 8|, 84 and 61 onthe chains 50, 5| and 52 allows heads to be drawn from the hoppers 32,33 and 34 consecutively. However, all three of the heads should bepassed into the boxmaking machine simultaneously, and for this purpose Isecure the rollers 14 on all of the chains ll, I88, IOI in alignmentwith each other so that during the normal operation of the machine thechain 5| will first draw a head from the hopper 32 and deliver the sameimmediately above the chain II a considerable time prior to the time atwhich the roller I4 (or 14a) arrives in a position to engage this head.Immediately following this operation a head is drawn by the chain IIfrom the hopper 33 and delivered immediately above the chain I 00, againa considerable period of time in "advance of the engagement of theroller I4 (or 14a) on this chain with the head so drawn. Immediatelyfollowing this operatlon a head is drawn by the chain 62 from the hopper34 and delivered immediately above the chain IOI, and this should occurjust immediately before all of the rollers I4 (or 14a) in the movementsof the chains 60, I00, IOI engage the boards which have been deliveredover the respective chains. Therefore the movement of the chains 60,I00, IOI will simultaneously move the three heads along their tracks 66,60 and 10, turning the heads as they move along the tracks anddelivering them simultaneously above the elevator I of the box-makingmachine.

During the delivery of one set of heads along the track 60, 69 and I0the opposed rollers 14a of the chains II, I00, IOI will return along thelower portion of the chain and during this return movement the chains50, 5| and 52 will have an opportunity to consecutively draw three moreheads from the stacks 32, 33 and 34, and deliver them-ready to be pickedup by these returning rollers.

Since the most economical space arrangement of the hoppers 32, 33, and34 on my machine is at a considerable angle to the vertical, the tracks68, 69 and I0 should also extend at a considerable angle to thehorizontal and yet the heads when delivered to the box-making machine Ashould be traveling along a horizontal path. The mere bending downwardlyof the tracks, as indicated in Fig. 8, will permit the heads to assome atruly vertical position and to assist or insure that the heads will beso positioned I prefer to provide a drag I02 above each of the tracks60, 69 and I0, which drags may consist of a strip of metal hinged as atI03 to an angle-iron extending between the main longitudinal rails 26 ofthe frame of the machine, the drags I02 extending forwardly over thetracks 68, 69 and I0 and having a weight I04 secured thereto to exert adownward force on the heads as they pass into the horizontal section ofthe tracks. Since the feeding of the heads into the box-making machine Amust coordinate with the operations of the box-making machine, I preferto drive the chains II, I00, IM and the chains 50, SI and 52 directlyfrom the box-making machine A.

As will be understood by those skilled in the art, and particularly byreference to the George D. Parker patent hereinbefore referred to,boxmaking machines of the character illustrated herein have previouslybeen provided with feeding mechanisms for drawing heads from the hoppersdisposed on the box-making machine and feeding them into the box-makingmachine in proper timed relation with the operations of the machine,such mechanisms including arms whic-h were supported upon a shaft I05extending across the back of the box-making machine near the basethereof, (see Fig. 1). 'When my shook selecting mechanism is substitutedfor this head feeding mechanism, the shaft I05 and its associatedmechanism is removed from the boxmaking machine and the bearing membersupon which the shaft I05 had been mounted may be conveniently employedas a link mechanism by which the frame of my shock selector may becoupled to the box-making machine A as by providing a forwardlyprojecting bearing bracket I06 on the leg 25 of the frame of the machinewhich projects forwardly a sufficient distance to permit a rod or shaftI05 to be inserted through the bearing members I06 and the bearingmembers on the box-making machine which had previously supported thisshaft.

Mounted upon the front legs 25 of the frame of the .machine are a pairof bearing members I0'I (see Fig. 8) through which extends a shaft I08upon the outer end of which is rotatably mounted a gear I09 coupled bysuitable safety clutch mechanism IIO (more fully illustrated in Figs. 23and 24 and more fully described hereinafter) to a drive sprocket II I. Achain H2 interconnects the sprocket I II and a drive sprocket II3secured upon the outer end of the shaft 55.

The gear I09 is meshed with the main drive pinion II of the box-makingmachine A and by suitably selecting the ratio between the pinion I I andthe gear I09, the shaft 55 and the head selecting and feeding chains ofmy shock selecting machine may be driven in the proper timed relation todeliver the heads to the machine in proper timed sequence with theoperations of the box-making machine A. The relations between thevarious sprocketsand their chains is diagrammatically illustrated inFigs. 4 and 5.

Side and bottom shook selecting mechanism The shook selecting mechanismwhich I have devised for properly selecting and arranging the boardsemployed for the sides and bottoms of the boxes with the boards arrangedin groups of six in proper relation to be fed into the box-makingmachine in the correct order, is illustrated particularly inFigs. 1 and11 through 22, and includes a series of stacks or hoppers I20, I2I, I22,I23, I24 and I25, one of these hoppers for each of the separate boardsemployed in the construction of a single box. These hoppers are arrangedin and suspended from a suitable supporting framework comprising twoside frames including a pair of upright legs I26 and I21 secured to andextending above the horizontal rail 26 of the main frame of the machineon each side of the machine and interconnected at their upper ends bymeans 1- of a top rail I28 from which is suspended a plurality of rodsI29. Wrapped about each of the rods I29 on one of the sides of themachine and about the corresponding rod on the opposite side of themachine is preferably a sheet of relatively thin metal I30 constitutinga partition defining the space between the adjacent hoppers I20, I2I,etc. The lower ends of the rods I29 terminate in foot-pieces I3I, onefor each of the rods, the foot-pieces I3I on one side of the machinebeing all connected together by a strap I32, (see Figs. 18 and 20).

In each of the hoppers I20, I2I, etc., may be placed a stack of shock orboards, the boards arranged in the stack I20 being preferably a supplyof the branded-or printed boards d constituting the first board to befed into the box-making machine to form the upper part of the first sideof the box while in stack I2I I arrange a second supply of boardspreferably the, boards e, to form the lower half of the first side ofthe box. In stacks I22 and I23 I arrange a supply of the boards f and g,respectively, to form the bottom of the box and in the hoppers I 24 andI25 I arrange a supply of side boards h and k, respectively, care

